VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Invests $839,000 in Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $IONS

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 10,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $839,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $245,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth about $2,156,000. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,302,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ionis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in Ionis Pharmaceuticals by 35.6% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 8,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $644,000 after purchasing an additional 2,140 shares during the last quarter. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $74.23 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 4.10, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.86 and a beta of 0.38. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.00 and a twelve month high of $86.74.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.85) by $0.29. Ionis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 58.65% and a negative net margin of 30.91%.The business had revenue of $246.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $195.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.93) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 86.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on IONS shares. HC Wainwright increased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $99.35.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Allene M. Diaz sold 54,878 shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.35, for a total transaction of $4,354,569.30. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,811 shares in the company, valued at approximately $302,402.85. The trade was a 93.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brett P. Monia sold 126,670 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.20, for a total transaction of $9,525,584.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 242,662 shares in the company, valued at $18,248,182.40. The trade was a 34.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 616,371 shares of company stock worth $46,406,452. Corporate insiders own 2.71% of the company’s stock.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies designed to modulate gene expression. The company’s proprietary antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) technology enables the selective binding of short synthetic strands of nucleic acids to messenger RNA (mRNA), thereby inhibiting or altering the production of disease-causing proteins. Ionis’ pipeline spans a range of therapeutic areas, including neurological disorders, cardiovascular conditions, metabolic diseases and rare genetic disorders.

Since its founding in 1989 by Dr.